Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) Reviews

My primary use cases for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops are for:

• Anyone who wants to modernize their business continuity plan
• Anyone who wants to deal with data regulation compliance
• Anybody who wants to promote a work from home or remote-first strategy for their employees and team members.

In terms of the hardware and software that the service requires our company to make use of, we can typically decommission if our client has existing servers. We can decommission after moving the data off of them. 

My firm is hardware apathetic. I don't care if it runs Citrix Workspace. If our clients want low cost and high performance, we generally point people to the Ncomputing RX420(HDX) which is a Raspberry PI 4 device that mounts very neatly onto the back of the monitor and it can link into their network via wifi or ethernet connection.

It's a fantastic little device that is very manageable, cost-effective, and tends to last for quite a long time. Every time I've put them into place, the desktop environment is a little bit different than what people are used to. The mouse movements are not quite as good as a full house computer, but we're spending a couple of hundred dollars for something that's going to last five to 10 years, versus buying a desktop or even a lightweight desktop for $600 or $700 which is going to last three to five years. Most of my clients have been pretty excited about that trade-off.

There have been radical improvements in IT efficiency. Cost savings are on a case-by-case basis. Some of my clients were not going all-in on any kind of management solution, so their initial monthly cost was higher when they went to Citrix. In most cases, it's a push. They're spending about the same money in either direction. But in a lot of cases, when you start to factor in the cost of downtime, the cost of inefficiency, the cost of a data breach, everyone is realizing much lower costs of management and ongoing costs to their IT department.

It's difficult to approximate how much it has saved because on one hand, I have a client that has 45 or 50 users and they realized a much higher increase of efficiency. A task in the previous model took half an hour, and under the new model, it takes five minutes.

When you spread that over 50 employees, that's a much higher percentage of drop than if a client has 10 employees. It's difficult to approximate but averaged across all of our clients, there is around a 25-to-30% reduction in costs.

We leverage the following technologies: 

• Application virtualization capabilities
• On-premises, desktop virtualization
• Cloud-hosted desktop virtualization
• Citrix managed cloud-hosted desktops

The fact that we can work from any device from any location is the most valuable aspect of the solution for us. In the last year, people have been restricted in their movements and we haven't been allowed to just show up to work. The fact that my clients can leverage a remote-first workplace that allows them a greater ability to recruit from a larger geographic area is valuable for us. 

You don't have to be able to commute to a major Metro in order to work there, you can work from any location. If you want to take a few days with your family but you have some projects that you're working on, it's going to take some of your time, but not all of it. You can just go to your Airbnb or wherever your family is staying and work remotely, do your job, and spend the rest of the time with your family.

Team members are relieved that they can continue to work and put bread on the table. They are relieved in the dichotomy that says they can put their family's needs ahead of their workplace's needs or vice versa. Maybe a child has a medical appointment or a social engagement that they would like to be at. You can fit those around your work schedule, work it out with your children and with wherever it is that they're going. In that way, both the employer and the employee realize a lower cost of operations. They realize increased flexibility and agility in their life. That dichotomy is either minimized or removed entirely. That's been very, very groundbreaking for them.

The deployment and management of hybrid Cloud Apps and Desktops is not 100% seamless, although it is very good. When you start mixing a third-party or a cloud-hosted app, it is generally pretty seamless. You don't notice a difference between a web-based app that you run on a physical machine, on a virtual machine, or through a Workspace. I have not seen any problems with that. A legacy application or a computer-aided design program has very specific requirements that can be a challenge. But with a little bit of research, once you settle on the solution, it's pretty good.

Security is a shining point of the Citrix Workspace. Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is a very robust solution when security is a concern. Furthermore, the content collaboration data-hosting that Citrix integrates with Virtual Apps and Desktops is among the best there is.

It is the same for the security of clients' intellectual property and data when remote employees use the solution. Content collaboration allows you to share data securely and is supported with two-factor authentication. You can have a consolidated data set with a widely distributed workforce and they can all be on the same sheet of music, all accessing the same data. Version control, access control lists, anything you could wish for, is available in their solution stack.

Citrix simplifies the adherence to industry regulations for data protection and for compliance. HIPAA, for example, if you share that data over two or three different clinics or facilities, you have to create and maintain some sort of SD-WAN or VPN in order to make sure that those applications and those datasets are shared only between those locations. With Virtual Apps and Desktops, that either reduces or removes the need for either the VPN or an SD-WAN, because they aren't actually sharing between various locations. You are accessing that data set through various locations. The benefit to that is that you have reduced complexity at the infrastructure level so there's less to troubleshoot. There's less to go wrong.

Templating the deployment process could use improvement. When you start, there are a large number of details that are quite client-specific, although they do share common themes. To get somebody up and running in a day is very difficult to do. They should streamline by use case.

There's always going to be an outlier that doesn't really fit neatly into any one use case, so that's going to have to be more customized. An accountancy firm has sensitive data. They are prime targets for identity thieves that are always looking for an easy target and low-hanging fruit. If they were to template a deployment for an accountancy firm with all the needful things that every accountancy firm is going to have to have, it should be that you can just radio button the Apps so that accountants can tell the backend that they're going to need certain things. Then you can say, "We have this number of users and they need this number of spare desktops - go." And it just built the Azure environment. That would be really great. I don't know that it's actually possible, but it would be really good. 

The other issue is the stocking orders and the monthly reports. They're difficult because we don't do it every day. We do the stocking order once a year and there's always confusion on the backend.

I've been using Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops for Azure for a little more than a year now. 

I would rate their support highly. They're very good and very responsive. We had an incident last year that dragged on and on but that was in the thick of having half the workforce that they were used to having and a radically increased call for service because of the pandemic. That's not really a true representation of what they could do. 

Most of the time, if there's an issue, I can fire it off to one of my account managers or through the Citrix portal and get a response back within, depending on the severity of the incident, a few minutes or up to the next business day. Depending on the severity of the problem, the next business day might be just fine. If it's just a little slow and it's irritating, but it's not causing anybody to not be able to work, the next business day is fine. If we're down and we need help right now, having 24-hour support would be excellent but that's kind of impossible.

I've had a client on board with me that was moving from another Citrix provider. They were working on hosting their own Citrix environment and they needed something that wasn't going to fall apart on them. Their customer service really flagged over the last year or so. They moved from a Citrix provider to me.

The deployment strategy widely varies between clients because, on one hand, I have an accountancy firm as well as another very similar solution for a defined benefits management firm. They have very similar needs but their business model is such that even though they've got the same needs, the way I have to meet those needs for each different client throws a monkey wrench into it. 

On the other hand, I have construction companies and engineering firms that could not be more different and customizing the solution for each of them and their needs is challenging. I can get the bones of the infrastructure up in two or three days. Then it takes another two or three days, at minimum, as much as maybe a week or two, to get everything dialed in just the way they like it before we start going into production.

The shortest amount of time I've seen it take to complete implementation is a week but it has taken a lot longer. 

I have seen ROI. It's opened me up as an outsourced IT department to seek and win much more lucrative contracts. Citrix has allowed me to pursue larger clients. Because when you are all on the same sheet of music with how this solution works, how it's supported, where you can deploy, and how onsite support really becomes almost a non-issue, you can seek clientele from every location, not just where you can drive to. It's allowed me to scale quite a lot.

My pricing advice would be to watch your Azure costs. If you're not used to it, like I wasn't last year, they can get very high very quickly and you can go upside down on your agreement very easily.

There is a steep learning curve. In the Cloud-hosted Virtual Apps and Desktops model, as a general rule, there's a high learning curve. If you're going from only providing local assets to your clients, a local server, local workstations, and you're going straight into Virtual Apps and Desktops for the Cloud in Azure, really do your homework. Really learn the tool, really understand how it's supported because you'll save yourself a lot of trouble down the line if you do. If you've got the resources available, throw one person at cost analysis for Azure. So that at least one person in your organization really understands how much something is going to cost to deploy and keep running so that you can size your agreements correctly.

If I could, I would rate Virtual Apps and Desktops an 11 out of 10. I will rate it a ten out of ten. 

I use the solution in my company to provide virtualized applications to users, especially to remote workforce. The tool provides good data center security, so a lot of operations can be done through Citrix Workspace since it is available like a sandbox. It is basically a robust virtual desktop solution.

The ability to provide virtualized apps and desktops is the most effective or beneficial feature of the product for our company.

The benefits provided to our company by the solution stem from the fact that it saves a lot of time for our IT team when dealing with the provisioning of desktops in our environment. The product also makes our company feel a lot more secure. The product was really secure to use for remote work, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Apart from the areas revolving around virtualized desktops and Citrix NetScaler SDX, the product also offers an overall good user experience, allowing users to take care of the setups of virtualized desktops.

Citrix Workspace needs to improve and offer a better QA. The product has some bugs, making it an area of concern where improvements are required. The product should have some new releases to deal with bugs that would cause downtime. The product should invest in testing processes before new releases.

The setup process needs to be made easy.

The product's licensing costs need to be made cheaper.

I have been using Citrix Workspace for eight years.

It is a stable solution.

It is a very scalable solution.

I have experience with the solution's technical support. I rate the technical support a seven out of ten.

Neutral

The product's initial setup phase is complex.

My company opts for the yearly subscription model to pay towards the licensing costs attached to the solution.

In my company's daily operations, we use the product to provide virtualized desktops to users. The tool eases up the replacement of PCs. It also requires very less physical parts, making it a greener product.

The product helps in the functioning of remote or hybrid work in our company since once it is implemented in the environment, it is much safer to use when compared to VPNs. Users can access the data center with the help of the product since they just get to use the screen, and it is a lot more secure than the offerings from the other solution.

To get the ability of the security aspect of Citrix Workspace to meet the organizational needs, our company needs to put in a bit of effort. It is not an easy solution when it comes to the security aspect.

The automation capabilities of the product that streamlines processes is not an area that is required much since our organization does not deal with a lot of automation involving Citrix Workspace.

I recommend the product to others who plan to use it. Before opting for the product's implementation, one should be aware of their hardware and have really good sizing capabilities.

I rate the product's integration capabilities a seven out of ten, considering it integrates well with other products.

I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Our clients use the solution to access the virtual machines in their organization. We don't give laptops to the employees. Everyone comes to the office. We have a virtual machine ready for them. Everything, including files and file sharing, is done in the virtual environment. Even the machines they access for work are in the virtual environment.

The Citrix Workspace application is very good. We can use it across multiple platforms, like iPads and other devices. The interface is seemingly easy to use. It feels like a PC. The functions that we get along with it, the ability to switch to the keyboard, and the gestures are perfect. It is easier to troubleshoot. If we have any issues, we just have to reset Citrix to fix the problem. It has really great applications.

The product has a lot of background processes running. Citrix duplicates multiple processes. We can see multiple instances of Citrix running in the task manager. We don't get that problem when we use a remote desktop. Sometimes, when the user launches VDI, they click it multiple times if it is a bit slow. So, multiple instances appear. It’ll be great if Citrix can eliminate that.

I have been using the solution for about three years.

The tool is stable. I rate the stability a ten out of ten. Our users do not face any problems. Either they get a connection, or they don't. If they don't get a connection, it's always because multiple instances are running in the background.

The tool is highly scalable. The only problem is cost. Everything else is perfect. I rate the scalability a ten out of ten. Our clients are enterprise businesses.

The technical support team is efficient. The quality of support depends on the organization that is providing the support.

Positive

I rate the ease of setup a ten out of ten. The deployment is quick and straightforward. It takes half an hour.

The tool is expensive. A license costs $1000. If we want the best solution, we must pay for it.

It's pretty easy to handle and train employees. It's quite good. People can easily learn the product. Troubleshooting Citrix is pretty straightforward. People who want to use the solution must plan the budgeting properly. They must plan how many people will use Citrix because there shouldn’t be any unused licenses. The licenses are really expensive. If we plan it incorrectly, we will have a financial crisis. Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

I use the tool to connect to the other apps of the company.

The tool helps me to connect with some apps of our company and resolve the tickets.

I have to re-enter my user password when I am not using the tool for some time around ten minutes. I want to also improve the need to download other Citrix apps.

I have used the solution for two weeks.

I would rate the solution’s stability a seven out of ten. The tool’s download time is slow.

I would rate the tool’s scalability a nine out of ten.

The solution’s setup is simple.

I would rate the overall solution an eight out of ten.

We are a system integrator for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops and we also make use of it in our own company. Our primary use case is ensuring that all our applications (e.g. Chrome) can be accessed in a secure manner by employees. As opposed to a VPN, it's much more secure.

The other main reason why we use this solution is because it enables us to centralize our systems, making it easier for the IT team to manage everything.

The biggest benefit of using Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is that all of the company's applications and data are situated on one centralized server, removing the need to install applications on the users' physical desktops or laptops. Whenever we want to access anything, Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops provides a seamless experience that lets us connect to our apps and files from anywhere. It's much like having a virtual office.

This arrangement also improves IT security because it ensures that no potentially-unsafe data will be downloaded on the end-points.

Instead of pointing to any single feature, I would say the most valuable aspect of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is the overall product itself. Virtualized apps and desktops, in theory and in practice, are very helpful to users.

Our experience of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is good, but the environment can become complex and difficult to manage at times.

The price is also too high, in my opinion, and could be reduced.

I have been using Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops for seven years.

It is stable.

It's a scalable solution. In our company we have about 20 users but some of our customers have between 250-1,000 users.

We have occasionally escalated issues to Citrix's technical support. I would rate their support services a seven out of ten.

Neutral

We have tried other solutions in the past, but in the end we found Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops the best fit for our use cases.

The setup is a complex process as there is a lot of competency required. This isn't just to do with Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops itself; it also depends on how complicated the existing infrastructure is. 

Depending on the number of users and the specific requirements, the deployment can take from three days to three weeks. When we deploy the solution for customers, we have to take a number of factors into account, such as the user count, which applications they will be using, whether they will be using desktops or laptops, and other things such as how much data will be sent back and forth.

Then we need to size up the infrastructure (CPU, RAM, storage, etc.) to make sure that there are sufficient resources, and if not, then we will deploy the necessary extra hardware. After that, the next step is to use a virtualization platform such as VMware, Hyper-V, or Nutanix, and then we download and install the Citrix environment. Finally, within the Citrix solution, we configure the applications to be used by end-points.

I would rate the setup process a five out of ten.

We did our own deployment in-house with the help of one or two staff members.

Ongoing maintenance and support is generally required since there are multiple users, many of which are using Microsoft Windows, and we tend to encounter maintenance issues about once a month. However, most of the problems we see are related more to the Windows environment rather than being the fault of Citrix itself.

There is definitely ROI in the long term because you are getting increased security and productivity (i.e. you can access anything in your company from anywhere) with reduced operational costs.

We're paying for a standard license and, in my view, the price is too high. I would be satisfied with it if it were reduced by about 20-30%. Right now, I would rate the pricing a five out of ten.

My advice to others is to make sure that your physical environment has sufficient computing resources, otherwise the performance won't be as good as it could be and your users won't be happy with it. Besides ensuring stable infrastructure, you should implement the solution with people who have the required experience needed to manage it.

I would rate Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops an eight out of ten.

We've hybrid workers who work from home up to three days a week or four days a week in some cases. The staff is basically using Citrix as a solution to access all of the data and apps that they would need in order to do the work they do. We've got mostly data workers and analyst types working in our group. Others within the hospital use it for different purposes. I use it occasionally when I'm working from home or remotely. I'm not a frequent user like my staff.

It has given us access remotely. I work at a hospital. So, we had rules about limiting access to the hospital site for people who didn't need to be here to basically safeguard our clinical staff and other staff from exposure to COVID. It was a call to action to ensure that as many staff as possible could work from home safely. We were able to continue our operations relatively uninterrupted using Citrix. Since that time, we still have some restrictions in place, but we're pivoting back to hybrid work over the last year or so, and we'll likely continue that in the future.

Getting access to the applications for which we otherwise have to be on-site is probably the biggest advantage.

We're running into all kinds of speed issues and reliability issues. There are frequent disconnects, and we're not sure whether that's a problem with the product, with the way the product has been deployed, or with server capacity or bandwidth. Our IT department pays attention to that, but we are feeling the impact of that. 

It also gets a little dodgy when we're having to work remotely. We don't necessarily have all of the full functions that we would have with some of our in-hospital systems. There are times when we have gaps, but that's simply because our IT department hasn't set up all of the applications that we would normally have access to. So, that's not a Citrix problem as much as it is the way it has been deployed.

We're pivoting away from Workspace. We're being told we're going to get some of the newer, more robust tools that Citrix offers. That's where we're heading right now. We're not quite sure. We're hopeful that it's going to make some significant improvements for us and make work quite a bit easier, but we'll wait and see.

We've been using various versions of it for a number of years. We transitioned to Workspace at the start of COVID. There were some upgrades done.

Based on the deployment we have, I would rate it a six out of ten.

Our IT department would know about its scalability.  In our organization, I don't know the number of users we have, but I know that in our department, we have 17 people using it. We've got 3,000 staff and about 2,000 workers every day. Probably 200 or so are working remotely right now. 

We don't deal with technical support ourselves. We use our own. Our IT department provides tech support for us.

I've personally used some VPN solutions in the past. I know our IT department uses a VPN solution, but I don't know which one it is.

I didn't set it up. In terms of its deployment model, it's on-premises. We're running it on virtual servers in our office. It is on our server farm here.

I would imagine it was implemented in-house. We don't usually use third parties for doing that sort of work.

I would advise being mindful of what you need and ensuring that the functionality that you need is built into it, and the tool is capable of providing it. I would also advise ensuring that the deployment addresses it so that you're not left with missing functionality. 

I would rate it a seven out of ten.

Our primary use case of this solution is for secured access to design data.

The most valuable feature of the solution is that it supports team clients. That is the major advantage where a user can at one point in time work in a secure environment, where they don't have access to the internet, but just by switching the window, they can go to an environment from the same device and can start using the internet, the two are mutually exclusive. You can't share data unless there is authorization given.

The solution can use more promotion to spread awareness. The cost of the solution needs to be reduced to compete with the other competitive solutions that are available. The setup is currently complex and can be easier.

I have been using the solution for over five years.

The solution is stable.

The solution is scalable.

The technical support is good.

The initial setup is complex. The deployment can take over one day.

The implementation is completed in-house by our team.

The licensing is $125 USD per user. The cost needs to come down substantially.

I give the solution a ten out of ten.

Anyone interested in the solution should definitely evaluate it and carry out POC before deciding on the requirements. You should evaluate at least one case and then make a decision.

Citrix is used by many organizations to make it possible to streamline the way different developers work together from different locations. It is able to do this using a low bandwidth. Essentially it is used for remote application delivery. 

Citrix's functionality depends on you having access to Microsoft Azure. Microsoft offers a broad range of features and solutions. Overall, it may make sense for some users to move all their services to Microsoft services. The main challenge is that you need to have a Microsoft Azure subscription. 

This solution could be improved by adding features for authentication. 

I have been using this solution for 10 years. 

This is a stable solution, however, this stability can be impacted by networking changes. Citrix has developed its own in-house monitoring tool that assists in this regard. Security wise, they have lots of features that you can use for two factor authentication along with your password or biometrics.

This is a scalable solution. Citrix is able to increase its capacity and functionalities based on demand for both on-prem or cloud-based scenarios. 

The customer support team is responsive when we contact them. Citrix runs on top of Windows so it is important to first figure out whether the challenge you have is Windows or Citrix related. There is an option to pay for support from Citrix and this is based on whether you are a gold or premium customer. They have a dedicated technical team and technical relationship manager who will engage with your environment and provide suggestion. They also offer professional services for deployment and configurations.

Positive

The initial setup was straightforward but this may differ based on specific scenarios. This solution needs to be integrated with directory infrastructure and in accordance with basic requirements. The setup is simpler for smaller environment and more complex for larger environments that need integration with other cloud infrastructure. 

You have to install a cloud connector for on-prem environments that use separate Windows servers. In future, Citrix are planning to bypass that cloud connection. 

They offer licensing per user.  From time to time, they give discounts. Because it's a hybrid model, you can deploy some portion of it on cloud and some portion your on-prem. 

This is an expensive solution but the cost can be brought down by discount bargaining based on the volume of licenses you are purchasing. 

I would advise others to evaluate whether to use the Citrix VDI based on all the different applications you have in your environment. You should specifically consider those applications which are cloud based and those which are on-premise as well as where your data is kept. This will determine the complexity of adding Citrix. 

You need consider what infrastructure is required for an in-house solution and how will your team manage and monitor updates. 

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.